A good example of what happens when we do not give reasons for what we believe can be seen in a letter to the editor of an Arizona newspaper. It reads as follows: "When I was a youngster, we all believed that men had one less rib than women because God created Eve with one of Adams ribs. When the story was written five to ten thousand years later after Noah and the world flood, how many people could read, much less write? ... You say you are a teacher of creationism in school classes. How would you answer these questions? If Noah took two of each animal on the ark, where did he get polar bears, bison, and kangaroos? You might answer that those animals lived in the Eastern Mediterranean area back then. The next question would be, how did the various colors of humans evolve from one white (deeply tanned) family in 5,000 or even 50,000 years? ... When I was growing up in a deeply religious family, I was told not to question the Bible and other religious writings. I got no answer then, and 70 years later I am still waiting for a reasonable explanation."

I personally spoke to the writer of this letter. As we talked, it became obvious that he had been told to accept the Bible by blind faith and was never given any useful answers. Omission caused him to reject evangelical Christianity. How sad! And the answers to these sorts of questions are available today. So, let us "give reasons for what we believe" as we discuss the subjects mentioned above.

MARRIAGE

When Jesus was asked questions concerning divorce in Matthew 19, He immediately referred to the origin, and thus the foundation, of marriage. He said, "Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" And from where did Jesus quote? Genesis! (In fact, He quoted from Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, in the same verse. Those who wrongly say Genesis 1 and 2 are two different accounts of creation should refer to Appendix 1.) Jesus was saying: "Dont you understand there is a historical basis for marriage?" If we did not have this historical basis, we would not have marriage. The only basis is in the Scriptures. You can say it is convenient for you, but you cannot tell your son he cannot marry Bill or, for that matter, marry Julie and Susan. Likewise, extramarital relationships would be a tolerable alternative. You would have no justification for thinking otherwise.